MidValleySports.Com

Tim Peterson

Did the powers that be at Monrovia do a good job of keeping that one under wraps or what? Trying to find out who the coaching candidates were was like trying to break the code to national security. I didn’t know if they were hiring a head football coach or selecting the next Defense Secretary for the United States.

I heard a lot of names being floated along the way but none of them was Chris Stevens. I heard Wardell Crutchfield, Craig Shuster, Jim Singiser, Donald Davis, Dale Bunn and Jude Oliva. Heck I even heard former HC Steve Garrison’s name thrown around. Stevens was under the radar. I heard whispers a few minutes before the announcement but until that nada.

But credit to AD Randy Bell and Monrovia. They kept the information in house, ignored all of the outside noise, did their due diligence to get their man. Only time will tell if Stevens is the right man but if you take a look at his resume at Ontario Christian it looks like a great hire. The feeling here is that if he could have that much success at Ontario Christian how much better will he be with all that talent in M-Town?

Daniel Al-gattas knows the SGV area. He played quarterback for the Walnut team that advanced to the CIF Finals in 2002 and coached at Mt. SAC for several years. He’s seen a lot of these kids come through and he’s seen them play. He knows exactly what type of kids he’s working with. He should be a good fit at Baldwin Park.

Ran into former Rowland HC Craig Snyder last week. He’s still hard at work coaching at Rowland. In fact when I saw him he was still scouring over his notes and encouraging his troops. He’s the head coach for the girls softball team and was at Duarte High this week for the Duarte Tournament.

Congratulations to Marshall players Christian Clark and Charlie Henderson for being selected by the National Football Foundation at this year’s Scholarship Banquet. The awards dinner is March 25 at Brookside Country Club. We will be mentioning several other area players over the next couple of weeks that will be recognized as well.

I’m one of the lucky ones. I have Time Warner and therefore I get to watch the Dodgers. I think I could live without the Lakers especially with the train wreck that they have become, but I’m not sure I can say that about the Dodgers. A summer without watching the Dodgers and hearing Vin Scully seems like a bad dream. And what’s worse is that it’s out your control. If you’re not a Time Warner subscriber you can’t watch the Dodgers. It’s a simple as that.

It finally got settled with the Laker channel and I’m sure an agreement with the Dodgers is imminent. It’s a game of chicken and somebody will eventually blink. If not Scully’s proclamation that “It’s time for Dodger baseball!” will seem hollow. Play Ball!

Add Stevens: I was advised today by one of my sources that I WAS given the name Chris Stevens from Ontario Christian. He said he texted me about three weeks ago and told me that Stevens was a longshot. The message must have gotten misplaced among all of my other texts, e mails, facebook messages and tweets. So I apologize. He was right. Thanks for giving it to me and reminding me. I appreciate it. You know who you are. Although you did say he was a longshot…      

That’s my principle.

Tim can be reached at tim@midvalleysports or on Twitter @tspeterson40